Identity phishing leads to reported credit fraud

In a classic case of Internet fraud, a St. Augustine man reported to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office yesterday that he had responded to an e-mail requesting updated credit information – and e-mail that he believed came from America Online; his Internet Service Provider.

The victim was alerted to the apparent fraudulent use of the credit union account associated with his credit card on Monday when he received a call from the credit union to verify the authenticity of several suspicious on-line purchases.

According to the report taken by Deputy John Lang, Jr., charges were presented from four different merchants between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning; collectively totaling $1,012.07.

The credit union advised the victim that they would cancel his credit card and not honor the pending charges.

According to a statement made by the victim, one of the affected merchants was in contact with him and verified the shipping address of the person alleged to have made the purchases using the victim’s account information. The shipping address was in Philadelphia, PA; the name telephone number and address were all said to be unknown to the victim.